10 years gain, gone

 

1. Right! I wish housing prices were at 2002 levels. My house was worth $70+ in 2002. I was trying to talk my wife into selling and move to Florida then. I had a nice job offer at a nuke plant on the Gulf coast. She didn’t want to go to Florida. We’d bought the house at $46,800 in 1990. Now? According to the experts, it’s worth about $39k. The only reason I’m not really ticked off is that I paid the damn thing off two years ago. So I’m not ‘underwater’.

   Posted by Christopher       05/29/2012  at  10:53 PM  



2. We bought our house in September of 2002.  Here in San Antonio, home values have remained strong and our house is still valued some $40k above the original purchase price.  We have no plans to sell.

   Posted by MAJ Mike       05/30/2012  at  06:48 AM  



3. Up here in Michigan it’s weird… Next door to us a place that was foreclosed… owners paid $160k for it. It set idle for 2 years… not even listed as far as we could tell. Finally, a sign went up and we found it being listed at $40k, as-is.
   Over across town in my parent’s neighborhood, the houses went for $12,500 new in 1955. The one next door to them sold recently for $19k.

   Posted by JimS       05/30/2012  at  08:40 AM  



4. Some markets are holding, some are even slightly appreciating. Too many others are down huge amounts. You can find those economics graphs online that show how the prices ought to be, had there been no bubble, but they really don’t account for changing business realities. With companies shutting their doors, far too many areas are facing a bleak future, and prices have dropped like rocks there.

   If we had a solid production economy, all that would go away. But no, we buy everything from China instead.

   Posted by Drew458       05/30/2012  at  09:06 AM  



5. Yes we are sinking in union controlled Cincy - while across the river - we could have had more house for less money and it is booming - but then KY isn’t paying for stupid Union golden parachutes. And now, oh joy we will have casinos (which actually passed in on;y 29 of 88 OH counties - hmmm, wonder which counties those were - perhaps those around the Union held cities (which have no jobs now)) - which will up the Union stranglehold again (they plowed up the GE parking lot, after their engine failed to get it’s taxpayer funded insanity - as no one but the GE Union wanted it) in this area. Meanwhile - even though the voters voted against it - the city is going ahead with it’s insane street car (read construction union gimmie) and once again, prior to a Presidential election - screaming fire and police layoffs.

   Down the street lives my Aunt’s sister - she has never been employed a day in her life, hubby had a Union gig his entire working life. The house (twice the size of ours) was paid off in the 80s - she is living better than us on his pension/healthcare golden parachute and has been for the 20+ years he’s been dead. Neither had more than a high school diploma and this is right, fair and just, how? The only thing is that the company he used to work for still exists - but I would bet it does because they axed the bennies he got - almost all of the other Union gigs (other than ed/police/fire/construction) are gone with the wind around here.

   We are skirting the underwater issue - we paid more than this pos was worth but we did it because they upgraded it all (electricity, windows, new roof, insulation, carpet, floors, baths, a deck and gazebo plus the garden and flower boxes)- all done in the 2 years before we bought it.

   Too bad I’d forgotten why I left this place - or we wouldn’t be stuck here now.

   Posted by wardmama4       05/31/2012  at  08:23 AM  

Commenting is not available in this weblog entry.